Toys make a new home at old Memo

EVERYONE around town has been wondering what exactly is happening with the old Memorial Club.

Kathy and Geoffrey Peet are now the proud owners of the club, and will be moving their Toyworld store to the location along with four or five other retail outlets.

The Emerald locals finalised the sale of the club in August, after missing out on the location at auction twice in the past couple of years.

"We're excited, it will be a big project but it will be good for the town and it's good to see something happening with the old building," Kathy said.

"We've been trying to move out of our current location for about two years now."

Since owning Toyworld in the Coles complex for the past five years, Kathy and Geoffrey have been through two floods and lost $120,000 of stock this year alone.

They are eagerly looking forward to the change and hope to have renovations complete by March next year.

"I dont't want to go through another flood," Kathy said.

"It's just been horrendous."

But before the couple shift their stock to the new location, there is plenty of hard work to be done to restore the run-down building which has been abandoned since 2008.

"It was absolutley disgusting. The inside was completely trashed and every window was smashed," Kathy said.

Adding to the damage, all of the fire extinguishers in the club had been set off and thrown through walls and windows, a fire had been lit to burn the carpet, and there was human faeces smeared all throughout the inside of the building.

Even though the couple has locked and boarded up the building, it is suspected children and teenagers are still wreaking havoc and vandalising the club, and people continue to dump rubbish around the outside of the premises.

"Any vandalising or littering from this point on will be reported to the police," Geoffrey said.

"It's already costing $30,000 to replace the glass.

"We're now working with the council to get our business up and running."

The new Toyworld store will be bigger and better than the current location, and there is an extra 1000sq m to be leased in the building.

"We would really love someone to put a kids' fun zone in there... there is about four or five other spaces that can be leased," Kathy said.

Kathy and Geoffrey are hoping the local community can help them out to rename the old building, and are offering a $100 Toyworld voucher for the best entry.

If you have a creative name, or are interested in leasing a space in the exciting new complex, drop your entries and queries into the Toyworld store anytime.